Bethenny Frankel was having an anxiety attack. When we left her at the conclusion of season nine on the Real Housewives of New York, in August 2017, she had impulsively purchased what could pass for the largest two-bedroom apartment in all of Manhattan: a 4,000-square-foot SoHo artist’s loft with awkward partitions and dated surfaces. Updating it for her and her seven-year-old daughter, Bryn, would require a major renovation. Bravo producers, she later found out, wondered what on earth she was thinking.

But Bethenny, ever entrepreneurial, loves a project—and the Skinnygirl founder immediately saw potential in the apartment’s original details and undervalued (for the neighborhood) $4.2 million price tag. And perhaps best of all, the property was next door to her office. “I wasn’t even looking to move but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” recalls Frankel, who returned to television last month with the premiere of RHONY’s tenth season. “All of a sudden I was in it.”

She, of course, is no stranger to renovations, having transformed multiple properties in the city and the Hamptons—most recently flipping a Flatiron condo with real-estate agent Frederik Eklund on their Bravo spinoff, Bethenny and Fredrik. “You have to know what to look for,” she notes of her budget-conscious approach. “I am very economical. I don’t like to waste.”

“The master bath bubble chandelier was also something Bethenny wanted since day one, but the original one she saw was too large and pricey,” says interior designer Vian Abreu. “We had this one custom made to fit in her master bathroom.”

Photo by Gieves Anderson

Though Frankel did not add extra bedrooms to the open layout, she did make sure there was plenty of space for an enviable walk-in closet.

Photo by Gieves Anderson

In the case of her new SoHo loft, she could do a lot with what she already had. With the help of her longtime designers Cheryl Eisen and Vian Abreu of Interior Marketing Group, Frankel updated the kitchen cabinetry with new lacquer doors, marble countertops, and glass backsplashes. The same trickery was used for the three bathrooms, where she deployed splashes of glitz and glamour (an oversize mirror, a statement chandelier, graphic tile) to the existing schemes. And throughout the loft, she refinished the existing wood floors a pale gray while repainting the original radiators, pipes, window frames, and columns all black.

“People think it was a gut job, but the bones of the kitchen, the bathrooms, the plumbing—it’s all intact,” she explains, noting that new custom touches such as the stained-oak millwork and two added fireplaces (one in the master suite and one in the family room) elevate the overall scheme. “It’s like taking plain hummus and adding lemon zest and herbs. Now it’s yours.” The furniture, similarly, is a mix of new purchases and cherished pieces.

Functionally, the apartment remains a two bedroom—with minimal changes to the open layout—though walls were moved to make way for her dressing and glam rooms. “You have to live how you live,” she explains of her choice to forgo additional sleeping quarters. Pressed about the possibility of RHONY house guests, Bethenny jokes, “Tinsley won’t be crashing here.”

“The neon sign in the library is one of our favorite elements in the home, but it was a process,” explains Abreu. “We did a few mock-ups with different fonts and colors until we got the one we all agreed on.”

Photo by Gieves Anderson

Home, it must be said, has never been more important to Bethenny, whose rising profile has been a simultaneous source of professional success and personal struggle. “I am sort of antisocial, which people are shocked by because of my personality,” she confesses. “But I don’t really go out much. I’m 90 percent homebody, 10 percent lunatic.”

These days, giving back is what motivates her to stay in the public eye. Last year, having endured a long, painful divorce, Bethenny founded B Strong, an organization dedicated to helping women in crisis. But when natural disasters ravaged the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico this past fall, she expanded her mission. “I realized someone had to move quickly,” says Bethenny, who was among the first aid workers in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. She has since raised upwards of $50 million in relief, as well as worked on sending some 54 planes and 75 cargo shipping containers of emergency supplies. “You have to be a little rogue and a little gangster,” she says of the way she opted to help.

Functionally, the apartment remains a two-bedroom—with minimal changes to the open layout—though walls were moved to make way for her dressing and glam rooms. “You have to live how you live,” she explains of her choice to forgo additional sleeping quarters.

The experience has her counting her blessings more than ever. “I feel humbled,” Bethenny says of her new home. “It took me three days to feel like this is my apartment. Wow, I can’t believe I live here.” Bryn, for her part, has settled right into her bedroom—complete with a four-poster queen bed and oversize windows that let in ample natural light for the budding artist. “Moving changed her,” says Bethenny of her daughter. “She likes to sleep in bed with me, but the morning after our first night here she said ‘I’m gonna sleep in my own bed.’ Now she wakes up at 7 A.M. She’s fully dressed—picking her outfits, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair. She feels like a big girl.”

As for how the apartment might change Bethenny, she muses, “I’m not a dinner-party planner, but I would like to become that person.” Time will tell—and she has no intention of moving. “Where am I going?” she quips. “I can’t get closer to work.”

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